The tech specs of the iPod never said it supported Linux. When you bought an iPod and decided you wanted to sync it with your Linux box, you stepped outside of the support box. That is not Apple's fault, that is your fault.

(I should note, by "you" I mean "Linux fan who bought an iPod", not "you, tdavis" :). I didn't even consider an Apple product when I was running Linux because I knew it would be too much of a pain.)

That's a bogus analogy. Apple is not preventing you from installing any software you want and using the same music you have in iTunes (along with all the meta-data in the music files) to connect to any hardware you want through standard USB/Firewire/Whatever connections.

Apple is preventing people from essentially hacking their software for the benefit of another company.

The only people who feel like Apple is abusing them, though, are a bunch of angsty tech geeks. The vast majority of normal people using Apple products are thrilled that they just work, unlike so much of technology.

All of the states use "At Will employment" rules (with varying levels of exemptions). That means that anyone can be fired without cause today.

I believe that executive employment contracts often predefine severance packages if one is fired without cause. The employee does not want to end up unemployed if he gets into a minor squabble with a board member, and the board does not want to pay out if the executive is caught supplementing his income through drug dealing.

Also, I suspect that it is harder for someone let go to claim employment discrimination if he is fired for supposed cause. However, further elaboration would require a law degree on my part.

No law degree here, but I'd gladly be fired over a squabble with a board member - that's a clear sign of a company I don't want to work at.

I use Emacs and Make as my IDE (yes, it does call xcode to do the actual compile). There is at least one Ruby and one Javascript compiler you can use.

Could you please give a little bit more info on how do you do this (and links to Ruby/JS compilers)?

This goes in my Makefile. I have to add files in xcode.

  all: 
  	xcodebuild -activeconfiguration -activetarget -sdk iphonesimulator3.0 -project MyProject.xcodeproj 

I may have to back out of the Ruby. I thought I remembered reading about a Ruby project for iPhone apps, but I think I was smoking something that day.

Other Links:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/quickconnect/ http://phonegap.com/

I think there would need to be proof that Foxconn did something, which I would imagine will be hard to get out of China.

Don't forget the sewers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKpx2DxGwY

I'll second that. It is more feature-rich than simplenote, which I prefer: voice notes, pictures notes, etc. There is also a plugin for Firefox extension for grabbing clips. I (and several of my friends) are very happy customers.

There is no way Java is going anywhere. We can actually hope that Oracle loses some interest in Java, thereby loosening their grip and letting the language evolve.

But I doubt it.

I think you've got some causality messed up. I don't see how Java could have "dumbed down our profession." I think instead, schools turning vocational reduced the caliber of graduates while simultaneously pumping out large quantities of them.

It could have happened with just about any language. Java just happened to have a lot of things going for it that made it fit perfectly into the mold those vocational schools were looking for: simple memory management, platform abstraction, included libraries, and a large marketing effort creating jobs.

I remember when I was excited about Java. I was writing software for multiple platforms, and the thought of a write once, run everywhere was awesome. I felt so raped when it turned out to be a lie. I was so young and naive. :)

Now, I wish Java had never belched from the bowels of that leviathan. Even worse, I'm working at a game company, building an MMO, and using Java. Egads!